Successors to the Blue Spirit
by Violent Vi
Summary: The Fire Nation is no more. It's citizens are now exiles slaving for the victors waiting for deliverance from bondage. A girl and her twin cousins dream of adventure and changing the world.
1. Crossroads

**Successors to the Blue Spirit**

**Crossroads**

**By Violent Vi**

* * *

_Prologue_

_The Battle of the Black Sun marked the end of the hundred year war._

_Many warriors on both side fell._

_Katara, water-bending master, daughter of Hakoda, Southern Water Tribe._

_Mai, noblewoman, daughter of New Ozai governor Tseng._

_Hakoda, Chieftain, Southern Water Tribe._

_General Fong, Ba Sing Se._

_Hu, Swamp Water Tribe._

_General Huo, Fire Nation Naval Infantry._

_Colonel Tetsuo, Bodyguard to Lord Ozai._

_The names go on. Ten thousand souls traveled to the underworld that day. However, two names would never be forgotten._

_Ozai, Firelord, son of Fire Lord Azulon._

_Aang, Avatar, the last Airbender._

_The winners of the battle drank down battle lust and madness in big gulps of blood._

_The victors decreed that Fire Nation would be no more. It's citizens would be banished to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes where they and all their descendants would be slaves for the victors._

_Fire- bending was outlawed. It's practitioners cursed with the sentence of a slow, painful death._

_The winners sought to end Sozen's line permanently_

_However, Crown Prince Zuko escaped his prison cell minute before his public execution. His sister was not so lucky. Angered by the prince's escape, every indignity was inflicted upon the royal person. What was left behind was cast out so the people of the Fire Nation can see how far it had fallen. It's last princess was reduce to a mass of madness by the hand of Sokka the Destroyer himself._

_Once day she vanished. Many suspected the princess in her madness cast herself into the boiling waters of Boiling Rock Prison, her body was never to be seen again._

_Three months later, the earth benders of the Earth Kingdom loosened the seals and let the volcanoes of the Fire Nation erupt. Those that were not taken off the island to slave were doomed to perish in the lava flows. The ash hung in the sky for three years choking out the sun. As slaves, those of the Fire Nation starved and many died. Only one of four lived on to suffer the lot of a slave. However in the chaos, a few escaped into the woods, mountains, and wild lands that where inhospitable to those of the Earth Kingdom._

_At first, the Earth Kingdom was not worried. A few ragtag survivors living at the edge of starvation posed little threat to the peace._

_However, soon the Earth Kingdom learned that to ignore a smoldering ember was to invite the wild fire. Unlike the Earth Kingdom who sought the easy life, the Fire Nation was built upon the philosophy that suffering builds strength. While an Earth Kingdom farmer prayed to the gods for gentle rains and sufficient sun to bring in a good harvest, a Fire Nation escapee pray to Agni for strength and challenges to make them stronger._

_While not having the numbers or united command to face the Earth Kingdom, those of the Fire Nation knew that Agni answered their prayers. Those that escaped the yoke of slavery became stronger. The Remnants or Exiles as they called themselves proved that subduing a proud people was like trying to fight a wild fire with a bucket of sand._

_As for the Avatar, every child born into the Water Tribes was tested, but none proved to be the reincarnation. Soon it was concluded that when Princess Azula struck down Aang the Avatar, the avatar cycle was broken._

* * *

_Sixteen years after the Fire Nation defeat at the Battle of the Black Sun_

Li Ju An examined the billboard at the crossroads.

The usual posters of local bad boys gone too far in pursuit of fun and coin graced the billboard. However, one image had central billing. The blue and gray visage of a demon leered at all who passed the crossroads in the middle of nowhere.

To the Earth Kingdom, the Blue Spirit was the ultimate demon.

The mysterious masked figure had robbed from almost all the noble and merchant families of the Earth Kingdom. He had assassinated Earth Kingdom officials and merchants who bought and sold slaves. He had stolen the ransom of kings many times over. Hundred of bounty hunters sought the mysterious figure to only find humiliations at the hands of the laughing _oni_ (demon). Not even the legendary Jun the Bounty Hunter with her beast could track down the assassin.

When the Blue Spirit stole the jade crown of the Earth Kingdom, the King of Ba Sing Se even went so far as to call upon the old Dai Li to hunt the Blue Spirit down. The Dai Li returned to Ba Sing Se defeated. Their ashes interned in a _honey pot_. That night, the Blue Spirit stole several of the royal jewels and paid the Earth King a personal visit. It was rumored that the Blue spirit spanked the Earth King with the flat of his sword. Since then, the Earth King kept a dozen guards in his room as he slept.

To the water tribes, he was the unstoppable terror. They feared him as much as they feared the black and white whales that prey upon all other creatures in the water.

Twice, he graced the Northern Water Tribe by violating their holy of holies. The first time he merely took two vials of water from the spirit oasis. The second he proved the not even a regiment of determined Northern Water Warriors and elite Water-benders were capable of stopping the legendary bandit. The world could heard the outcry of the Northern Water Tribe were heard when they found a mask at the Spirit Oasis. The spirits of the Moon and Ocean swimming in a fishbowl with a note taunting that next time he would partake of carp sushi. Since that day, a squad of elite water-benders remain on guard at the oasis.

Only once was the Blue Spirit defeated.

The Blue Spirit sought out the life of Sokka the Destroyer. The pair fought. The Blue Spirit had to flee for as much as he wanted to kill the man who ordered the destruction of the Fire Nation, his defeat would end the hopes of many.

To the slaves who once were the Fire Nation, the Blue Spirit was their hero.

Mothers would whisper tales of his exploits to their children. In the middle of the night, fathers would take their children into the woods and teach them the fighting arts of the disbanded nation in hopes that they too would be worthy of the Blue Spirit's efforts. He was the living embodiment of an enslaved race dream of freedom. He was the wild fire that earth, wind, and water could not contain. He was their leader in exile.

The world knew of the Blue Spirit. However, only one man knew the identity of the man behind the mask. And that man was far to cagey to ever admit to being the most wanted man on this world.

"Uncle will be upset if we are not home by sundown," moaned a young man.

Fifteen-year-old Li Ju An looked at her cousin, Li Ji An, and his twin sister, Li Li An.

The pair were opposites in temperament.

_Lili_, as Li Li An was called, was so energetic that she could even wear down Auntie Ty.

Ji An was so dark that he could suck out all the fun in a carnival by just walking by in the next district. Ji An, no one called save LiLi called him Liji, was too much like Uncle Li – all serious. The only time he ever had fun was playing with steel, fire, or pulling a practical joke on some unsuspecting fool. The only way one could tell the pair were brother and sister was the way they stuck up for one another when an 

outside picked on one of them. Otherwise, the pair spent their time driving each other nuts and fighting one another.

Lili stuck out her pink tongue, rolled her eyes, and made a circling motion with her index finger by her ear. "Ji An, no wonder why you are in a rush. You want to kiss Meng."

Ji An glared and launched a fire blast at his sister's foot. Lili did back flip and easily avoid the flames.

"Take that back, sister. I would commit _jumonji-giri_ (seppuku without a second to end the pain) rather than kiss that fat pig-cow again.

"Again..."

"It was dark...okay...I thought it was...Junai," he admitted reluctantly.

"So you admit kissing Meng," laughted Lili. The fourteen year old girl started singing, "_Meng and Ji An kissing in a tree, oh my oh my what a mess it be. First come love, forget the marriage, here comes the ugly pig in a baby carriage._"

"Shut up," snarled Ji An as he threw several more fire blasts at his sister.

"Stop it. If an Earth Kingdom patrol saw us, they would take us to the slave blocks," warned Li Ju An.

"You are no fun at all," taunted Lili as she danced around her twin brother. "Besides, we gave the last bunch of slavers a few scars. I know they won't be sitting for a couple months.

Ji An worked hard at perfecting the bland tone and face. However, a rare smiled did briefly appeared on Ji An's face. It was his idea to give the last group of slavers a permanent set of hemorrhoids via fire-bending. Li Ju An knew that when her cousins worked together, there was bound to be some interesting form of trouble brewing. However, Li Ju An could not keep a straight face. She too enjoyed the moment.

Li Ju An hated being the oldest, sometimes. Since she was three months older than the twins, her uncle expected her to babysit these two troublemakers.

Li Ju An wondered why she was stuck with these two.

If she was Uncle Li, she would have already drowned the pair and raised chicken-pigs. At least the chicken-pigs could eaten as meat.

The elder girl blew an errant lock of hair aside.

Li Ju An looked nothing like her cousins. She had inherited the mocha complexion and blue eyes from some unknown Water Tribe father. Other than Uncle Li and Aunt Ty, the only thing she had in common was her ability to bend fire. The problem was no matter how hard she tried, she had to fight to force fire to do her will. Lili was a prodigy. Ji An had a harder time mastering fire, but still had an easier time than the older girl.

_Damn Water Tribe blood. It interferes with my fire-bending. I have to master that double kick before tongiht. Ahhh...damit it all to the nine hells._

Li Ju An hated the water tribes.

It was the Southern Water Tribe prince, Sokka, that enslaved the Fire Nation and exiled the entire populace. It was one of the barbarian tribesmen who raped her mother and ensured that Li Ju An would have contaminated blood. When she was child, she prayed to Agni that she would not become some slimy, fish-scaled water-bender. She refused to be near water. She refused to bathed fearing that if water touched her that she would lose her fire bending powers. Worse yet, she fear she would end up playing with water. In the end, Uncle Li had to throw her off a boat in the middle of a lake before Li Ju An learned who to swim. She prayed to Angi to forgive her polluted blood and give her power so that one day she could kill every filthy Southern Water Tribe bastard.

Ji An flicked a dart at the image of an Earth Kingdom bandit.

"Scum, don't desire to be on the same billboard as the Blue Spirit," he spat as he defaced the other images before letting them smolder. "One day, Lili, we will seek out the Blue Spirit and become his apprentices. I will be known as Bai Hu, the White Tiger of the West..."

"And I will be Quin Long, the Azure Dragon of the East, "interrupted Lili.

"And together we will topple the Earth Kingdoms and Water Tribes from their perch," chimed the pair simultaneously as they performed an advanced fire-bending _kata _(form) that Li Ju An would have sold her soul to be able to perform.

Li Ju An smiled, "And just whom am I suppose to be..."

"Why Xuan Wu, the mysterious warrior of the north, who with her icy cold claws send shivers that unman even the most foolhardy of Water Tribe scum."

"Not too hard as they already have their testicles frozen off from all the damn cold. The last one home is Zhu Que, the Vermillion Sparrow."

The twins ran down the road. No one wanted to be the sparrow.

Suddenly the pair were jerked off their feet.

Li Ju An sauntered by at a leisurely pace.

"You two have to untie yourself first. Don't even think of burning the rope. It was on Uncle's _shopping list_."

The screams of outrage could be heard in Ba Sing Se when the pair realized their cousin pulled the oldest trick in the book. While they were talking about joining the Blue Spirit, Li Ju An simply looped the rope about a post and tied the ends to their belts.

The twins were troublesome pranksters when they ganged up. However, they had nothing on Cousin Li Ju An, the best prankster this side of Ba Sing Se.


	2. Fish Bender

**Successors to the Blue Spirit**

**Fishbender**

**By Violent Vi**

* * *

Today was supposed to be a _good_ day.

Uncle Li was coming home today. Knowing her uncle, he was going to bring a lot of presents for the kids. For some unexplainable reason, the man who hated tea most in this district was perhaps the best at peddling it. No one in the family, save for Auntie Ty, Li Li An, and some mythical uncle, liked _boiled leaf juice_. However, the earth kingdom's fondness for the stuff guaranteed that Uncle Li had enough in bribe money to pay off the local officials into not investigating the Fire Nation half-breed's past.

"Ju An, can you and Lily please get the kids to wash up? I have to finish cooking supper. Your Uncle is bringing a couple guests with him. Make sure the kids are presentable."

Ju An bit her tongue. Cousin Lily was anything but helpful when bathing the cousins. Lily would get the other kids riled up and turn bath time into a water fight. Or worse yet, she will have the little ones kissing the turtle ducks again. Just every time she got her cousin pegged down, Lily would do something so weird that the only Ju An could come up with to describe her erratic cousin was Lilitic. Even the fish benders under the influence of the moon could not be so...

Li Li An, or Lily, was exactly like her mother, Auntie Ty Lee. Both were shamelessly flirted with the local merchants and talked incessantly about the colors of people's auras and how poofy the clouds were. Knowing Li An, the crazy girl would try again to fix Ju An's aura by paralyzing her and pouring more boiled leaf juice into her mouth. Li An was smart to master her lessons, but she was so like auntie-like that she made everyone around her bonkers trying to figure out how she does not forget to breath.

Ju An did not need that kind of cooperation.

The young girl wondered who Uncle was bringing home.

It was more than idle curiosity.

Next year, Ju An would be of marriageable age and in the Earth Kingdom, arranged marriages were common. Just because her uncle and aunt _eloped_, did not mean they would not arrange a marriage for their niece or daughters.

Li Ju An knew there were already offers for herself and her cousin, Li Li An. It was inevitable.

The Li family had money. Many other well-to-do families had land, title, or a strong family lineage, but these folks were short on coin and long on debts.

Unlike many well-to-do Earth Kingdom families, the Li's were very discreet about the financial success of Uncle Li's tea trading business. There was no large house or expensive diners parties like the other master merchants were fond of throwing. The family dressed simply, but the clothing was always well kept and clean. Despite having no servants, their white kimonos were spotlessly clean and pressed.

Despite hiding their affluence from the neighbors, everyone in the district knew that the Li and Jee Trading House had a straggle-hold on the most exotic tea-leaves in the Western Earth Kingdom. Everyone knew that the Fire Nation exiles, escaped slaves all, grew the most exotic tea-leaves in their mountain strongholds. It was merchants, really Fire Nation half-blood smugglers, like the Lees and Jees, that dealt with the so-called savages, and brought the leaves down for sale to the most exclusive teahouses and tables in the Earth Kingdom. It was dangerous trade and only dangerous men like Uncle Li and his partner Uncle Jee had a change of returning home alive.

_Too bad Uncle Jee's kids are too young for us. At least the other kids, have the option of marrying someone they don't have to hid their fire bending from._

Li Ju An and her cousin, Li Li An dreaded marriage.

There were a few Fire Nation-Earth Kingdom mixed-bloods, by products of the century long war. However, considering social status odds were likely that she would be married to an Earth Kingdom family. When that happened, she knew that she could not risk fire bending. It was outlawed and to do so would not only sentence her to a slow death by being crushed under stones, but would result in having a riot hunt down her family for birthing a _monster_.

Fire bending was a crime everywhere save the few enclaves that escaped Fire Nation slaves set up in the mountains. The fire benders that were caught were slowly tortured to death.

Once, Uncle Li dragged her and her twin cousins to watch an execution of a captured fire bender. Uncle forced them to watch so they would know how important it was to keep the _family secret_. She remembered biting back the tears and wondering how uncle could be so cruel. That night, she found Uncles Li and Jee drunk on sake reminiscing about the executed fire bender. The three had apparently served onboard the same ship. She remembered the talk about a storm that almost capsized the vessel and something about an old general who loved tea and _pao shi_.

The next day, the body of the executed fire bender was gone before the authorities were able to display the body in an exposure cage. Uncle Li was gone for two days. When he came home, Uncle Li burned his garments saying nothing. She did not realize it then, but uncle had stolen the body so that it could properly be burned and the ashes scattered as was the Fire Nation's tradition.

Uncle risked his life, not for profit.

He was the only source for money, medicines, and finished goods that the Fire Nation exile needed to say alive in the mountains. He was their link to what was happening in the outside world. He smuggled messages between those still slaving for the Earth Kingdom and those who managed to escape.

Uncle was something more than a half-blood merchant taking advantage of what otherwise would be a curse. Uncle was some kind of officer in the Fire Nation Navy with enough rank to clash against some monkey-faced admiral. That was all she knew. However, only Uncle Li, Uncle Jee, and her aunt knew the whole secret. Trying to find out about her Uncle Li was like peeking in a key hole and trying to see everything that was going on.

Li Ju An brushed an errant lock of hair out of her blue eyes. Not counting the twins, Ju An had to take care of seven cousins ranging in age from two to twelve. Every time Uncle came home, it seems Aunt Ty got pregnant. Auntie was expecting another kid in two months.

Ju An whistled and then hollered, "Last one to the water hole is a fish bender."

Fire benders all, at least the ones old enough not to burn themselves, none of the kids wanted to be the fish bender in the family. The little ones were fast, shedding clothing as they ran to the swimming hole. Ju An had to pick up the cloths, grab the bar of soap, and the scrub brush.

"Lily, go and make sure they don't drown before I get there."

Ju An heard the chorus of 'Ju An's a fish bender.' The young girl clenched her fist and suppressed the urge to launch a flame front at her cousins.

Li Ju An hated being called 'Fish Bender.'

Her mother was raped and driven insane by one of those Water Tribe barbarians. Ju An was only four when her mother nearly took Ju An along with her to the afterlife. Only her uncle's quick thinking saved her from drowning when her mother jumped off the bridge. Ju An remembered crying as her mother squeezed her and the shock of cold water. Her uncle dove in after her and managed to drag her out of the water of out of mother's grasp. Her mother's body was never found.

Ju An remembered crying as a kind wondering what made her mother hate her so much. She tried to be good. She tried to be as good as her mother. No matter how hard she tried to master her fire bending lesions, her mother called her a failure and a _bastard's beast_.

Being call fish bender hurt the worse because it was her fish bender blood that made her own mother hated her. Ju An hated her dark skin and blue eyes. It was the mark of a freak. Something worse than any freak could ever aspire to be. Ju An made a quick mental apology to freaks. Auntie Ty friends were circus freaks and they were always nice to the little girl.

Ju An felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You should not let the past turn your aura grey," whispered Li An. "Besides, father is coming home. He will bring you something to make your aura pink. I can see it."

Ju An shook her head. Her aunt and cousins were always talking about auras and colors. Uncle, Ji An, and Ju An seem to be the only ones who could not read auras. Besides, having a pink aura was not a life goal that Ju An would actively pursue. What good was a pink aura when you hated everything you were?

* * *

Uncle did not bring home a husband for either girl.

His guest was some official from the Earth King's court seeking to purchase some dragon lilies tea-leaves. The dragon lilies were the rarest of all tea-leves. Native to only the Fire Nation, the bushes were now all but extinct. Only a few transplanted bushes were in the Earth Kingdom and they were all controlled by the Fire Nation exiles. Even in the Fire Nation, the bushes were rare. It took three years to cultivate the leaves for harvest and another to prepare them.

The king wanted an ostrich-horse load, but all Uncle Li had was one small box. The pair spent hours negotiating the fee. The official eventually offered twenty seven silver hills per _tael _(ounce). Ju An, Li An, and Ji An stood silently behind Uncle Li fetching sweet plum wine and refreshments as necessary.

The deal was sealed with a drink of _mai tai's_. The legendary fire water that made sake look like water. Cousin Ji An had to help uncle move the inebriated official to the guest room.

"Thank you all," uncle whispered to the gathered teens, "Make sure the little ones don't fire bend until our guest leaves."

The trio went up to the loft. A curtain separated the boy's side and the girl's side of the loft. Separate bedrooms were luxury in a small house filled with children. The only separate bedroom was the room that Ju An's uncle and aunt shared with the two youngest kids. Ju An's mind was too busy to sleep. The young girl, instead step outside and grabbed the bucket by the doorway. Auntie would need the kitchen sink filled for tomorrow's laundry.

The young girl made her way to the well. She tied the bucket to the pulley and let the heavy bucket drop. The bucket had a stone weight straped to the bottom to allow the bucket to sink into the water. Slowly the young girl brought up the full bucket.

"Worried?"

Surprised Ju An let the bucket drop back down. She turned around to confront the voice.

It was Uncle Li.

"Do not worry, I am not going to marry you and Li An off to some mud bender. It will slowly kill you both. Having to be someone you are not is perhaps the worst thing to hurt a soul. Promise me two things, Ju An. Never forgot who you are and never give up without a fight. As long as you do that, you will be your true self."

"Uncle, why?"

"Because, I know what it is like to be hated by those you love the most. I hated myself for not being myself in an effort to please others. I was trapped up in trying to please them that I forgot to appreciate the ones who loved me. Come with me. I need to show you something."

Uncle lead her to an abandoned quarry where he taught the kids fire bending.

"When I was sixteen, I lived on the road with my uncle. We hid from our enemies by posing as refugees while seeking a fool's myth that would somehow restore my honor and a life that I thought I wanted. I chased the myth for four years and all it bought me was hard lessons and bitter tears."

Uncle took in a deep breath and asked, "What do you hate the most?"

"Fish benders. You know I rather drink all your tea than be a fish bender," said Li Ju An.

"The proper term is water bender."

"Water bender...fish bender. The Water Tribe already messed up my life."

"Yet, water bending is in your blood. Your father's sister was a powerful water bender. She was better at water bending than your mother was at bending fire. If your child turns out to be a water bender, would you love your child any less?"

"It does not matter. I am a fire bender."

"Yes, you are. That is no reason not to learn from the other styles of bending. I have faced your aunt and nearly died at her hands several times. I want you to come at me with everything you got."

Shocked, Ju An kicked out a weak fireball. Uncle blocked it.

"You have to try harder. I almost swore that you tried to freeze me to death. Your aunt always tried to frieze me to death."

Ju An kicked out three large blasts.

"Fire relies on passion to fuel it and yet requires extreme control otherwise it turns on us. We can summon it anytime, anyplace, but we must create it...fuel it. We must control it. We walk a fine line between humanity and savagery."

Ju An watched as her uncle calmly bend the fire around his body and launched her attack right back at her.

"Water seeks to use the enemy's energy against him. Often there are times when even the greatest fire bender must be like water. Be fluid. Turn when pushed and step in when pulled."

A ring of fire erupted at uncle's feet. Five tentacles arose above the ring of fire. Uncle stood like a puppet master commanding the five puppets.

Ju An threw three quick jabs. Uncle made quick flicking gestures with his fingers. The tentacles moved knocking back the fire.

Uncle then grabbed two tentacles and whipped them at her ankles. The fire wrapped around the teens ankles, but uncle's control was legendary. Ju An felt the warmth but was not burnt.

Ju An bowed at the waist towards her uncle acknowledging his victory.

"All these moves, I learned fighting your father's sister. My sister was a fire-bending prodigy, but she never mastered the art of learning from her opponents. I have fought against masters of all four of the elements, and ... masters of steel, and flesh. I only survived because I learned from them all. To not learn from others, to dismiss other benders and non-benders is to cut off your right arm before a dual. What is the goal of a fire bender?"

Ju An replied automatically, "Attack, break the opponent's root, and force them to retreat while you advance and take his territory."

Uncle got into a horse stance and started stomping like he was doing a peasant's jig. Fire erupted from the earth nearby her feet. Ju An kept moving to avoid the flames from burning her feet.

"That I learned fighting an earth bender. She defeated me by using this technique. She slammed me into the ceiling a few times. If I did not escape the jail, I would not be here today."

Ju An looked at her uncle in awe.

"Who is my father?"

"You will learn when you are ready. Giving a child a vendetta is the crueler than marrying you off to an earth bender extremist."

Ju An was thankful that her skin complexion hid her blush. She hated being called a child.

"Then tell me about my aunt. I mean my father's sister."

Maybe uncle would let things slip out and give her enough to find out who her bastard of a father was.

"You look exactly like her...minus the hair loopies of course. She was a little shorter than you, but a little more stacked..." Uncle paused knowing that if he continued nothing he could say would make things better. "She was a she-wolf. She was kind to those who needed her help. She was death to those who threaten those that threatened her pack. She would have loved you and wept if she was alive to see the monster your father became. No one, not even your mother and father were born monsters. Monsters are made...molded. We make the monsters in our own image. Animals do things out of the need to survive. It is not personal...just survival. Monster do things because they believe they are doing the gods' work on this sad world.

"Your aunt would have loved you. She was always helping others. Her was as powerful a healer as she was a fighter. If fate did not put us at the opposite end of the battlefield, maybe we could have been friends."

"What was her name?"

Uncle though it over, "Her name was Katara. Do not bother searching for her brother. In the Water Tribes, there are a million Katara's as there are a million Li's in the Earth Kingdom. No more questions. We cannot change the past. All we can do is act in the present. Your father stole your mother's spirit. Do not let you righteous anger become the reins that your enemies will control you with. Anger give us power, but at the cost of control. For fire benders, control is more important than power."

Ju An pondered the lesson.

"Uncle, what about air. You mentioned four elements."

"The air benders are no more. They were wiped out before my grandfather learned to crawl, let alone fire bend. The last Avatar died before he could reseed the Air Nomads. The handful of novices that survived the Fire Nation attack a century were enslaved. They are all dead and the few descendants that exist do not show any sign of being able to bend air."

"How do you know?"

"Do you think what your father did was unique. Rape always is part of the battlefield. When Sozen order the Air Nomads eliminated, a couple high-ranking Fire Nation commanders deliberately keep on some female air bending novices as concubines. The problem is that fire is such a dominant element. The few descendents of those slaves that could bend turned out to be fire benders. The only thing left of the Air Nomads is the pressure point striking _jutsu_ your aunt taught you."

Ju An slowly pondered the comment.

"You mean..."

"Your aunt is the sixth generation to descend from one of the commander and a young novice named Karuka. She was one of four novices spared because she was every bit as beautiful as her name...Karuka...a heavenly piece of art. As far as I know, your aunt and your cousins are the last descendants of the Air Nomads. All your aunt's relatives were killed when the earth benders unleashed the volcanoes. I doubt that there will be any more air benders. Fire Lord Azulon tried breeding some _loyal_ air benders for a pet project, but it seems that only the talent to bend is hereditary. The same thing happened to the few water benders we tried to breed. What we bend depends on something else...perhaps our culture. That is why we fight to protect our culture. If we acquiesce...then there will be no more fire benders. We will ."

"Does Auntie Ty know?"

Uncle nodded, "Remember the history of our people."

Ju An faithfully repeated the ancient Fire Nation credo, "We are the sons and daughters of fire...the superior element! We are a free, proud people. We never _kow tow_, not even to the gods, let alone a man. We spite the will of the gods and make our own destiny. "

Uncle held up his hands.

"No. We were once slaves. Our female ancestors were Earth Kingdom and Air Nomad girls seized by the ancient Sun Warriors. Their sons and daughters learned to manipulate fire and overthrew their fathers. The Earth Kingdom saw our power and sought to make us slaves. We fled to the west where Agni, first Fire Lord, established our homes. We were a poor folk look down upon by all. Only when we discovered trade did we began to prosper. My bloodline is just about as mixed up as anyone's. What everyone sees as the Fire Nation is perhaps the mongrel nation. There is no such thing as a pureblood fire bender. That was a myth to conveniently forget an unwanted pass. It was our willingness to seek outside ourselves that made up strong...then we turned inside because we believed we were strong because we were the superior element..."

Uncle withdrew a cigarette from his pouch and lit it up.

"Look at where being the superior element got us. We forgot humility. Now we have no home. We are a people in exile. I fear that one day, there will be no more fire benders. I fear that if we don't work to protect what makes us unique...we will be truly enslaved people...there will be nothing of our culture left to fight for...to die for and to live for. All I ask that that you pass on the passions that our ancestors bequeathed to us."

Uncle laid back and close his golden eyes.

"Li An...Ji An...I know you overheard me. When you sneak, make sure you don't kick any rocks."

Sheepishly the twins climbed down the walls of the quarry.

"Father, that was some great bending...can you teach us the fire whip and the tentacle thingy?" begged Li An.

Li An aura was definitely pink and sickenly bubbling. Ji An and Ju An traded looks of disgust.

"No. I have taught you what I could. Remember to look at all the little things and see how you can apply it to your life. Oh yes, there is one more lesson. I want all of you to lay on the ground, lean back, and look at the sky. Tell me what you see.

"I see a grey aura around the moon," cried Li An.

Ji An snapped, "The moon is the moon, not a person."

Uncle let the argument continue before speaking up, "The moon was a beautiful Northern Water Tribe Princess name Yue. When Admiral Zhao killed the moon spirit, the princess sacrificed herself so that we all have the moon. She was in love but gave up love to save the moon. It is only fitting that her aura is gray."

"It is just a legend."

Uncle whispered, "I was there. I was hunting for the key that would set me free and allow me to return home. Admiral Zhao was my enemy and I sought to chastise him for everything he did...The avatar took him to the depths. He took many fathers and sons of the Fire Nation to the deep. I don't know why he let me live."

"You saw the Avatar," asked Ji An.

Uncle rarely talked about his past. Even inebriated, Uncle was tight lipped about certain details.

"He was my key home," sighed the weary man.

The man pointed towards a constellation.

"The dragons were the first firebenders..."

* * *

Fire benders awoke with the sun, but there was no law saying they all did so with great enthusiasm. Waking up on the hard earth with crystals in your back was not a good thing for a man in his middle age.

The little ones were stirring.

A little part of his mind chastised him for calling the teens little ones. When he was their age, he thought that he know his future. Capture the avatar, return home with honor, be loved by his father, and take the throne.

He was technically the Fire Lord. Fire Lord Ozai did not live long enough to make his sister officially the crown princess. Now, he was the Fire Lord in exile.

His son, Ji An, did not know about the crown although he underwent the ceremony that made him crown prince. A newborn would not remember the old fire sage that marked his shoulder. As far as Ji An knew the dragon tattoo wrapped around his left leg was just a family tradition. The old battered crown worn by the man's other great-grandfather was just an age old relic.

_I need to stop drinking so much._

He knew that he had let too much out. Reflecting back on the conversation he had last night, he might have just told them everything. He knew that they were old enough, but to tell them was to not allow them to enjoy the last of their childhood.

He knew they all wanted to grow up. However, he did not want them to miss out on that special time. He had not been a child since the night his mother walked out of his life. He wondered what make him so that his mother would walk out of his life. It took four years of exile to find out that he deserved.

_You betrayed uncle. If mother was still in your life, you probably would have betrayed her too._

He wondered why fate was so good to him considering his sins. He had failed his uncle and mother. He had failed to love Mai the way Mai loved him. He remembered the slim, dark girl leaving his bed in the early morning before the servants had a chance to see the illicit liaison. He remembered just feeling only emptiness when she took the sword that was meant to kill him. He had come to love Ty Lee only after she nurse him back to health and after finding out that she was pregnant with his child. His family loved a man that was not worth loving.

Knowing his luck, something was bound to go wrong. The only thing he could do was to impart enough lessons to the kids so they had a chance to avoid the punishment that he knew would eventually befall him.

_Agni, I pray not for myself, but my family. Please grant them the strength and perseverance to endure when my time of reckoning has come._

Agni had already given him more than enough stubbornness to survive a holiday in hell. It would have to be enough. If it was not, the fire sages were right.

_We all create our own hell._

The old man stood up and shuffled toward the house. Hopefully he could crawl into bed before his wife woke up. She would not yell at him. She would just refuse to help relieve his aching back. There were benefits to living with a woman who could render anyone into a boneless hunk of relaxed flesh.


	3. Outside Looking In

Successor to the Blue Spirit

Outside Looking In

By Violent Vi

Hoa Bei Fong often wondered what she did in her last life to end up here in this life.

Her mother, Toph Bei Fong, was once the world's most powerful earth-bender. Her mother's family was once perhaps the wealthiest in the Earth Kingdom. She was a distant cousin to both the Earth King at Ba Sing Se and the King of Omashu.

However, now the world ridiculed and despised the Bei Fong name. Grandfather and his ancestors were deeply involved in illegally smuggling iron ore to the Fire Nation during the century long war. After the war, the Earth King stripped the Bei Fongs of their wealth and their secrets. It did not matter that her mother was the last Avatar's earth-bending teacher. No, Toph Bei Fong was the child of a traitor and a Fire Nation half-breed serving girl that died in childbirth. Her father only recognized her because Hoa's grandfather's official wife was barren.

Hoa hated her life. To raise her, mother became a mere serving girl who was expected to share her master's bed and endure the scorn of the master's wife and her children. More than that, she hated his father and his father's family.

Two girls walked by giggling at the _village idiot_. They were her half-sisters, but to them she was just another servant to torture. A special servant because torturing the bastard seemed to be a family pastime.

"Oh _serving_ _boy_...be a good dear and fetch me the blue kimono."

Hoa hated being called _boy_. They called her boy, because she was flat-chested, not buxom like the other Water Tribe girl. Two of her half-sisters had their periods and were officially women. Despite just turning fifteen, Hoa had not yet made her blood sacrifices to the moon spirit.

Hoa knew that today would be another bad day in fifteen years of bad days. Unlike Hoa with only her one change of clothes, her half-sisters probably had a dozen different blue silk kimonos. Then add in the cotton ones...Hoa knew that she would be running up and down the stairs all day long.

Hoa knew better than to ask which one. Her half-sisters would keep changing their minds until he ran them all down. Hoa resisted the urge to look longingly at the line of servants lining up for breakfast. Odds were they would eat all the food before she could get a bite. Hunger seemed to be Hoa's only constant companion.

"Fetch me my kimono now."

_Bitches...I am their oldest sister and I have to..._

Breakfast would not be in her future. More than once, Hoa envisioned running away from her father's home. However, she could not leave his mother. Ice and snow covered the ground outside year-round making it impossible to see with her earth bending. Because of the ever present dangers of frostbite in the frigid Anartic South Pole, Mom had to wear the boots so she depended on Hoa to be her eyes.

Hoa sighed and ran up the stairs half-wishing that she could fire bend. Maybe then, she could burn all the blue kimonos so his half-sisters would be forced to wear the peasant clothing that she had to wear. Hoa hated the South Pole. There was far too much ice and snow to earth bend.

The only benefit to being her father's daughter was that unlike the other servants, he was technically a free woman. The other servants were slaves from the former Fire Nation or their children. The slaves kept to themselves, living in their own section of the village, and basically ran themselves. The slave quarter was a place where once the masters were asleep came alive. On its edge was the little shack, which Hoa, his mother, and her real siblings called home. The small, icehouse proclaimed her status. Not quite a slave...not a member of her father's household.

Hoa carefully draped the kimonos so they would not wrinkle or get dirty. He carefully walked down the stairs. Her half-sisters often found it funny to ice a stair thread and see her slide down a flight or two of stairs. She would rather wear a slave brand than to give her half-sisters the pleasure.

Hoa was lucky today.

Today was market day, so her half-sisters could not spend all day making Hoa fetch kimonos. Besides, _Father_ had other uses for his bastard daughter today.

Hoa carefully folded the kimonos and wrapped them in the paper sleeves before running to the practice yard. Not many would willingly face her father's sword so Hoa was often roped in as her father's sparring partner. It seemed that sparing was the only time her father treated her like his child. It was the only time her father seemed to acknowledge her existence. It did not matter how many bruises or cuts she received, Hoa live for few hours she could lie to himself. It was the few hours that she could pretend to have a father that loved her. Maybe if she became good enough, her father would publicly recognize her as his daughter. Maybe then, her mother would be treated with a little respect.

Hoa shook her head. As long as that _bitch_ Suki was alive, nothing will change. Nothing will ever change. Hoa would always be the living reminder that her father took advantage of a little blind girl who had the misfortune of falling in love with a total jerk.

_What kind of man manages to get two fishhooks stuck in his hand when there is only one hook on a line?_

_My father..._

Hoa prayed to the gods of fortune that she would not be as _stupid_ as her father was when she grew up.

Sokka _hated_ politics.

Being the Chieftain since the Day of the Black Sun meant that he was good at it, but he hated the game of whispers. Politics could undo what warriors settled on the battlefield. The Earth King at Ba Sing Se had sent him a message asking for help in dealing with the escaped slave problem.

Sokka shook his head.

The Water Tribes did not have an escaped slave problem.

If any slave attempted escape the harsh Antarctic climate only ensured that the attempt would be suicide. Even fire benders could not indefinitely survive the cold. In addition, he knew better than to beat up his workforce. Riling up a slave force would not cause the work to go faster. All he had to do to keep the slaves in line was to control their rations. With the exception of the Royal Family, Fire Nation families would do anything to ensure that their children would have enough to eat.

However, he was stuck trying to prop up an incompetent ruler.

During his travels with the Avatar, Sokka cursed the Dai Li.

Now the Water Tribe Chieftain wondered if maybe the Dai Li were right all along. Managing an idiot seemed to take too much of his time. The king had just enough knowledge to be dangerous, but not enough to take care of his problems. At least, King Bumi of Omashu handpicked a halfway intelligent successor before he died. Sokka just wanted to strangle the idiot Kuei and put the idiot's ten-year-old eldest son, _Quan_, on the throne. However, politics demanded that Sokka help the idiot keep his throne at least long enough to raise a little spoiled prince and ensure a stable transition.

Sokka did not want to send a Water Tribe garrison to the Earth Kingdom. The Water Tribes had suffer lots of causalities during the Battle of the Black Sun and Sokka needed his warriors at home making lots of babies and training the next generation of warriors. However, he had to send some symbol of support beyond mere words.

Sokka looked outside to see his illegitimate daughter, Hoa, cleaning the practice weapons.

Suki hated Hoa and it was obvious that Hoa was about to snap and beat the stuffing out of Suki and her half-siblings. When Toph walking into the Southern Water Tribe with a tanned skinned three-year-old calling her mommy, Suki knew exactly what happened before he could recall a night of cactus juice and the best sex of his life. If Suki did not already have Ae-Cha and was not eight months along with He-Ran, she would have returned to Kyoshii Island. Suki had literally thrown him out of the bedroom.

Now his only pleasure with his wife was the few nights every year that Suki get fall down drunk so that she would have angry sex with him.

He looked at the blind girl who destroyed his life with Suki. He loved Suki. Toph was nothing more than some slut who just happened to be some earth-bending prodigy. Toph was waiting by his desk for his next order.

Sokka started writing.

He wrote to the incompetent that he was going to send a master tracker that he specially trained himself to track down and hunt the Blue Spirit and the escaped Fire Lord. The King could not argue since Sokka would be technically sending his own child, albeit an illegitimate one, but an earth-bending prodigy. If his daughter succeeded, then she would be some kind of hero, given some noble title, and quickly married off to the idiot's eldest son. Maybe one day, one of his grandchildren would rule the eastern half of the Earth Kingdom and Sokka would be spared the headache of keeping a useful idiot on the throne. If his daughter failed, then Sokka would be rid of a problem. Suki would stop yelling at him to get rid of the lass. If the daughter failed doing his duty, then Sokka could press the king to marry off his heir to another one of Sokka's girls. Either way, he would acquire an advantage.

Sokka's mind quickly turned to other details. His only regret was that it would be difficult to find another sparring partner willing to take on the bruises that Hoa seemed to pick up every day.

Sokka blotted the parchment so the ink did not smear before rolling it up in a tube to be taken to the messenger hawks.

_Lemon Warning_

He hated Toph. Toph was supposed to be some kick-ass fighter who would kick the ass of anyone who ticked her off. Here she was...meeker than an abused seal pup begging for some fish scraps. He looked into her eyes trying to see some remnant of the spark.

_You are just not so fun anymore..._

Toph had only one real job.

Sokka walked back around his mistress. With a push, he bent her over and lifted up her dress.

_No underwear...Toph knows what her place is._

Toph merely stayed bent over the table waiting for him to take his pleasure from her.

_No spirit..._

He dropped his pants and placed his organ near her folds. Toph did not move a muscle.

"Why don't you fight me?"

He grabbed the back of her hair, twisted her head so he could attack her lips with his, and yanked back as he drove in his organ sans foreplay.

"Why don't you resist?"

He yelled into her ear as he took her. He wanted her to fight. He wanted her to drive a stone shaft up from the earth and launch him into the sky. He wanted her to be the Toph that he made love to all those years ago.

"Damn you bitch. Why can't you feel anything? That psycho-knife throwing bitch that died for Zuko has more fire than you. Your heart is made of stone."

He released his essence inside of her cold passage. However, he was still erect.

"You will break...water enters the rock. Thaw and freeze...thaw and freeze until the rock is broken from the inside out. I will break your heart of stone."

Sokka looked at her other hole and smiled.

_She will definitely break soon._

He remembered the back door treatment. It was bad luck to have a lady aboard a ship so Southern Water Tribe sailors have turned to one another for comfort on long voyages. It was never spoken of, but understood that sailors needed a bunk buddy. He knew his father and Bato were bunk buddies as long as he could remember. It was expected. Sokka was the only boy his age so it was up to Bato to initiate him into the Southern Water Tribe Cult of Manhood.

It took a while to get use to sharing that passage and that was with a man who was gentle.

Toph was not going to get gentle.

Toph bit back the tears.

_You deserve this...If you did not run away...If only you were the dutiful daughter father wanted you to be..._

Regrets were not a natural feeling for an earth bender.

_You could end it all. All it would take is a single stomp._

However, she could not do it.

Toph needed this. Toph was nothing more than a bad girl who needed to be made good.

He would hurt her...he would keep hurting her...he would give her the pain needed so she could feel. When she saw him with _her_, Toph could not bear the emptiness that settled in her heart.

Toph remembered her first heat. The Fire Nation slaves would speak of the burning and would go to great lengths to keep females who were undergoing the burning away from males until they were ready to manage a family.

Her father never told her about her real mother. Why should he brag about fornicating with some girl who was the product of a rape by a randy Fire Nation soldier upon some refugee girl? Toph's mother was only twelve when she died in child-birth. They did not know that Toph too would suffer the burning.

Toph remembered the need. It was not just a need for any man, but one man. She snuck into Sokka's tent and shared a wine skin of cactus juice and her virtue.

The next night, Toph watched Suki enter Sokka's tent and knew that her dream of being Sokka's love was just a stupid dream by a stupid blind girl. She remembered leaving that night. She was no longer the Blind Bandit...She was no longer just Toph Bei Fong. She was the other woman...the seductress...the filthy whore who did not deserve anything good in her life.

She remembered arriving home to only be arrested for treason. Her mother turned out to be a stepmother. Step-mother hated Toph and told her the truth.

_You are nothing more than a whore's get._

Toph's step-mother watched her almost die in childbirth and did not raise a hand to help her. Hoa was born in a jail cell. Jail cell births were nothing new in the Earth Kingdom. If a criminal was pregnant, the state could not execute her until her child was weaned off the breast. Some ladies made it a point to stay pregnant in an effort to delay the inevitable.

For one year, the trials went on. For one year, Toph had to endure the attentions of the guards so she would get enough food to produce the milk that Hoa needed. When they arrested her...the guards deliberately smashed Toph's hands and feet so she could not earth bend. The only thing she was good for was whoring.

Toph got good at it.

She would imagine his face as another man or woman would claim her body for a few copper. The whoremaster called her White Jade in honor of her sightless eyes. It was better to be blind for that way she did not have to remember their faces. Every man could be Sokka and as long as it was Sokka she was inspired to perform. Soon, she was no longer an alley girl, but a girl saved for the most expensive of clients because she got so good at faking love. Every night save for the nights of her bleeding, countless Sokka's took her and used her. Some pretended to care about her, promising her an easy life as a lady. Others treated her as she deserved to be treated…she was a whore…a mattress with three holes ready to accommodate anyone with coin. The best was those that would grant her the pain…the punishment that she deserved for letting men and women have her for a few metal trinkets.

Men that one would have sought her hand for her father's wealth rented her for a farmers month's wages just to spend two sticks on incense worth of time. Some just wanted the regular. However, a few wanted something extra.

She willingly endured the extra. Nothing could hurt as much as the moment that Sokka took Suki in the tent just hours after she had given him her virginity. Not even the silent moments when she could not lie to herself anymore.

She would have whored all her life if it was not for the plague. She had to get the Hoa away from the disease so she crawled out of town and hid in an abandoned barn. The fever came and nearly killed Hoa and herself.

She did not want to face Sokka again, but Hoa needed something better than the life of a refugee. It took six months, before she could earn enough spreading her legs to get passage to the South Pole.

Sokka did not know what she had to do. It was better that way, otherwise he might not have acknowledge Hoa as his daughter. If Hoa did not at least have a place, Toph knew that Hoa would end up spreading her legs for some john.

However, Sokka instinctively knew her for what she really was.

Toph was fated to be his kept woman. She was his to abuse or share with whom he wished. She was nothing more than a dildo was to women who share pleasures with other women. He did not love her. She did not need to use what remained of her earth bending to see that he hated her. However, she needed him. As long as she was his, maybe one day, he would finally love her. It was a dream, but it was the only thing that kept her from killing herself.

He finished up and Toph cleaned the man who fathered her children. He let her use a rag to clean herself up. It was more than what the others allowed her to do.

Tonight she would have to present herself to Suki and face her wrath. Suki was taught the ways of pain and pleasure by none other than Princess Azula. Suki was once Azula's favorite pet and learned how to enjoy and give pain. It was a side that she hid from all but Toph. Tonight, Suki was going to share some of Azula's favorite techniques with Toph.

Toph was used to the cuts and bruises. However, Suki knew her weakness. Suki would play with her mind. Toph was for the first time afraid of a person the first night Suki confronted her about her past eleven years ago.

Toph thought that fate had broken her when she became a whore. However, there was something inside of her that the guards and whore-masters could not touch. In two nights, Suki showed Toph just how far the path to depravity went.

Toph remembered breaking.

_She hung limply in the chains. Her breath was ragged. The air stank of her sweat and blood. Leather restraints were tight on her hands and ankles._

"_I know everything about you White Jade. You were the girl who could wear out a master of the lash. You once took on a roomful of lovers. However, you are still an innocent. You believe that maybe he will love you. As long as I live, he will _never _love you. I am so glad that I did not let you drown at Serpent's Pass. How could imagine that a whore such as you still believe that your prince will love you and that love will conquer all. You pray that he will lift you up from the gutters and dark alleys and make you his queen."_

Love...not even love...but just the possibility of just being loved was enough to keep her here. Toph closed her eyes. She wanted to cry. She wanted to be like the pretty girls in Ba Sing Se and find a prince who would love her. She remembered awaiting for the sting of a lash or the entrance of rough fingers in her abused holes.

"_Í told the other that you are sick and that I am personally taking care of you. I still remember that kiss. I think it is time for me to collect on it with a little interest."_

_Suki gently nibbled on Toph's lower lip, just as Toph dreamt of Sokka nibbling her lips. Toph was no stranger to girl on girl sex. However, there was something in this experience that was not there in her other experiences. Emotion._

_Toph hated Suki for stealing away the only man she ever loved. It was Suki that destroyed Toph's future. However, Toph found herself responding to Suki's kiss. Soon her tongue was exploring the inside of Suki's mouth. Toph felt something warm inside. She wanted to fight it. It was not Sokka. To feel anything was to betray her love with Sokka. Toph was an earth bender. Steadfast loyalty was her trademark._

_Yet she was acting like she was in heat again. Suki gently fondled her sensitive breasts. Toph was starting to shake in the pleasure._

"_Tell me...tell me what you want me to do."_

_Toph wanted to tell Suki to drown herself in the icy cold waters of the bay. However, Toph found herself begging for release._

_Suki's practiced fingers touched Toph's love box. They were not rough but tender. It was the tenderness that she desired all her life. However it was not Sokka._

_Toph remembered screaming at the moment of release. Suki had destroyed the loyalty that Toph held for Sokka. Toph would once a week face her mistress who would give her the punishment that she needed._

Toph hated herself. If she did not surrender, if she had stayed and fought for Sokka's love...she had betrayed her lover, became the plaything for her lover's wife.

Toph closed her eyes, knelt in the chalk circle, and awaited Suki's wraith. The floor was stone. The walls were stone. Toph had healed enough that she could earth-bend albeit not at the level she once did. She could crush the source of her suffering with a stomp of the foot.

However, Toph would await. Sometimes Suki never showed up. Sometimes Suki would humiliate Toph. Sometimes Suki would actually be tender with Toph. Those were the worst moments. Toph needed the humiliation...the pain...the hurt. Every time she thought Suki could not hurt her anymore...Suki found a new way for Toph to relive her failure.

Toph closed her eyes. She was so exhausted. She found herself day-dreaming.

"_Hahahaha...I am Melon Lord and I will crush you all."_

_Toph smiled as she flung a flaming-tar encrusted boulder at Suki_


	4. Nightmares

**Successor to the Blue Spirit**

**Nightmares Made Flesh**

**By Violent Vi**

Li Ji An examined the all too familiar room all the while praying for Agni's chariot to crest the eastern horizon.

_Not again…Agni please._

It was said Agni answers the prayers of his faithful. However, it seemed that all he ever said was, "No!"

Everything was wrong in this place. Everything was on fire, but nothing was burning. He tried to extend his senses, but he could not feel the heartbeat of the fires nor could he feel the pulse of his internal fire. His fire bending would not work in this place.

He knew what was going to happen. It happened every night since he could remember. No matter what he was going to die.

The door flew across the room and three Water Tribe barbarians entered the room. They were tall, tall than he was. He ducked, rolled, and threw a dagger in the first one's gut as he drew a _tanto_. The blade was nine inches long and slightly curved. The blade resembled the ancient _tachi's_ that once where worn by the first Sun Warriors.

"Zuko," he scream in a voice not his own. He had to warn his father that the attack was happening.

Li Ji An dodged the sword blow. Fate decided to intervene. He looked down to find the blade of his namesake…_jian_ driven just below his breasts.

Li Ji An fell. The floor was slippery with the blood of the warrior she fell and her blood. The fact the blood red kimono was tight meant that it was harder to stand up.

He had to stand up. His father would need him to get up and help fight off the attackers. All he had to do was stand and drive the blade in between the shoulder blades of the wolf's head clad warriors.

Fate decided to laugh at him. His legs buckled as the warrior withdrew the sword from his gut. The warrior looked down at him, shook his head and with a single blow separated his head from his shoulders. The ceiling, walls, floor, and fire rolled in a violent turbulent spiral.

The last thing he saw was the blade being driven through his father's chest and a comment.

"Why did you kill the bitch?"

"Too troublesome to house break," the other one replied with a laugh.

Li Ji An woke up sweating. He looked down.

_Thank Agni…no breasts._

The fire within told him that it was far too close to sunrise to think about falling asleep again. Fire benders woke up with the sun…but as father would say there is no law saying that fire benders had to face the morning sun with glee. The Li family was living proof that not all fire benders just love to see the sun rise. They all hated not having the option of sleeping in. Mother, the only non fire bender in the family, could and would simply kick father out of bed just so that she could sleep in that little bit longer.

One hour…

Li Ji An hated the little injustices of the world…No hated was too strenuous at this time in the morning. Li Ji An seethed at the world. Why couldn't he just have the ability to sleep in at least one morning a month?

He changed into his work clothing. If he could not sleep in, he could at least get things done early so he could maybe get to sleep a little earlier. He was a growing young man and growing young men needed some sleep.

He staggered into the chicken-pig pens. It was time to feed the stupid creatures, grab the eggs, and leave the shit detail to his younger siblings. He dropped the necessary seeds into the feeding trough. He deftly pulled the eggs out from under the sleeping sows and deposited them in the basket. He then kicked the rooster-pig so that the rooster-pig would wake up the universe.

All was right in the world when you wake up everyone in the Li household before the sun rises. Twelve sets of eyes would look at him with hate as he walked in with the eggs. If he was not going to get any sleep, well he was going to share the blessings that the early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise with the rest of the family whether they like it or not.

Angi decided that Li Ji An had too much fun this morning. Waking up the kids was his duty as the eldest son. However, waking up mother and father with the chicken-pig racket ensured that he would suffer the ultimate punishment.

_Taking the girls shopping at the market._

Never before in the course of human events did repeatedly driving one's head into a steel spike sound more pleasurable.

The iron maiden would be like a queen's mattress in terms of comfort.

Being the non-fire-bender doused in lamp oil at an Agni Kai was more merciful.

No torture could be as cruel…as agonizing as babysitting six girls shopping. Not just any girls, but his sisters. Especially Li Li An, his twin sister, and the only female in the world that can out air-head mother.

"Please father, you need me to help you load up the next shipment. Anything but…"

Father would have no part of it.

"You are going to be the man of the family someday and you are going to act like it. I don't want to see you snivel, cry, or even moan. You will take your sisters shopping. I have a lot to get done before we take the next shipment to Ba Sing Se so kept the girls busy and out from under my feet."

Li Ji An looked for a knife, hell even a dull rusty spoon to end the pain.

The Li girls looked at their chaperone with a promising glare. They were not going to let their erring chaperone get anywhere near that steel spike and end the misery.

Ji An wondered just how bad can it be until Li An opened her mouth.

"I believe that our auras need to be refreshed. I know, we should match our clothing to the auras we want. I want pink. Li Mai should go with a yellow."

The outer girls started getting in the conversation.

Hell was not a place of fire and brimstone. Hell was a tailor's shop while waiting for six girls to color coordinate their clothes with their auras. There was only one way out…seppuku and knowing fate his cousin Li Ju An would come along to ensure that he could not commit seppuku with the tailor's shears.

The worst part was dad was trying not to laugh at him and failing. Even mother was laughing at him. Angi was not known for being a merciful god…but this was too much even for the goddess of pain, suffering, and misery.

_It could not get any worse._

Then the girls started talking about accessories as father handed his cousin a hefty coin purse.

"Don't worry about getting back tonight. Just stay at the Inn and come back next morning. Take the boys too. There is a new confectioner in town and I heard he makes the biggest sweet dumplings."

Images of ten children, six girls and four boys, all on a sugar high for two days got Li Ji An thinking about the joys of monastic life and celibacy. The problem was that to join, you had to be a eunuch (the easy part) and an earth bender (not so easy). Since it was a time of piece, the Earth Kingdom would actually check his age if he ran away and tried to enlist. The circus was out since they all know mom and would not let run away from home. There was no escape from this horrible fate.

Father was sending him to the tenth circle of hell.

Even the old Fire Lord, Ozai, seemed to be more merciful with his son than Li Ji An's father was with him. A burn to the face and exile would be cake wake compared to this.

"Ji An, why are you hitting yourself?" cooed his twin sister, Li An, "It is not so bad. Dad was talking to Meng's father about a wedding."

Ji An tried in vain to knock himself out. The nightmares about being a girl and getting stabbed in the chest had nothing on shopping, babysitting kids on a sugar high, and getting hitched to the most annoying creature in the multiverse.

Chen examined the clearing below.

He was the last of the infamous Dai Li. He had served both the Earth King and Princess Azula. He had spent seven years in the death cells under the ancient city. Only the rise of the Blue Spirit allowed him and the few survivors' freedom.

The others perished on the hunt for the Blue Spirit, but he had escaped. He had three cover identities including one from the Office of Internal Statistics, aka the secret police. The Dai Li followed the one with the most power and fought one another for position, status, and to develop their talents. The Dai Li was perhaps the greatest group of earth benders this world has known. Maybe Toph Bei Fong was the best, but Chen would give any other earth bender trouble.

Today, he was going to get his prize. Today he was going to capture the infamous Blue Spirit. He was going to capture the Fire Lord in Exile, Zuko.


End file.
